MuleyMan

Snow on May 23! Several monsters have been whacked here.......... Cliffrose...........yummmmmmm A monster was whacked while he was with some does here A terrific spot to find a mature buck living.......

Spent some time in one of my favorite places on earth over the holiday weekend. Great trip! Saw a dozen bucks in 3 days. Gotta love the nightlife in Kanab after a long day out in the hills too, LOL. Took some unused trades to Outdoorsmans (Amanda.....aren't they a sponsor here?) a few weeks ago and left with this TERRIFIC Kowa High Lander Bino!!! The tripod is the Bogen 055XV and the pan head is the massive Bogen 501HDV.................prolly the only setup stout enough to hold these heavyweights. The glass is the Fluorite 32x and it is terrific! Muuuuuch more clarity than I ever imagined. I highly recommend these to anyone who is considering them. Just make sure they will fill a void in your glassing needs and hunting methods before robbing a bank to afford them. Wow! I may get the 21x eyepieces as well. The individual focus eyepieces will prolly take some getting used to. Check out the great, brushy big buck country in the background. Little bucks might make a little rub.............or they might make a big rub. But.............big bucks ALWAYS make a big rub! This first one looks pretty serious, the second one not. Looking across Kanab Creek at the West Kaibab. Across Antelope Valley with Yellowstone Mesa in the distance. The lower end of Hack canyon where it enters Kanab Creek. A terrific isolated, somewhat hidden trough ruined by either an outfitter or a hunter. I am sorely disappointed to see hunters leaving this selfish damage..............especially 50 miles from the pavement. I'll save my trail cam comments for another post. So much for the wilderness experience and leaving it "like it was". The commercialization of big muleys has ruined hunting them. Too many hunters now believe that the end justifies the means. It doesn't. I was here 15 years ago.....this crap wasn't. A typical water catchment on the Strip. Again, note the ugly, butchered tree resulting in a ground blind for the selfish, destructive outfitter or hunter.........50 miles from the pavement. The second pic shows that this drinker is VERY heavily used. 15 years ago..........this one didn't have much sign. Seems to me that there are more deer in 13A these days. Looking west off Mt. Logan into Whitmore Canyon and ultimately the Grand Canyon. The deer on Logan seem like "park" deer. This is another 3.5 year old buck on Trumbull that let me get close to him. I spotted a 170" buck with his doe at the top of this first ridge near the heavier PJ's at the top about 1.5 miles away as the crow flies. These are a terrific bino! I took this buck there years ago. I try not to visit the Strip without somehow contributing to the deer herd...........

ROFLMAO! Relax dude.............dang..........this is just a forum. From this..........you really have no idea what I'm made of.........particularly my hunting ability. I now have my entertainment for tonite..............and for the next few months.............holy cow.........LOL I love it when people read my posts........

You are putting words and outrageous emotions into my mouth. I expect nothing less from Arizona dudes who can't drive down the interstate cuz it snowed a little bit. I only stated that I don't think he was professionally qualified or able to save me or anyone else. Good thing he only received some of my tax money. Didn't say that his death was un-tragic or that his family won't be impacted. Contrary to what you suggest.............time of year doesn't magnify his death. The suggestion was made FIRST that he was a firefighter. This implies some holier-than-thou importance and greatness cuz of his profession. Would his wife & kids suffer differently if he was a plumber??? Also.......would his death be less important if he was a single man with no kids??? Please respond here.........

Dang Lance..........great butchering lessons and pics. But..............has the quad in the first pic been driven off-road? Shame on you............

Doug definitely knows expensive optics. Turn the bino/eyepiece downward when brushing so that the grit falls and doesn't scratch. Love the Zeiss spray bottle lens cleaner and wipes. DO NOT use Windex.

Ditto, ditto, and ditto.....LOL!!! Been waiting for your call for years! My number is 928.864.8185. Can't remember your old username..................nor where I can find your useful, contributory, picture-laden posts? Been looooooooooong waiting........ I don't know about you, but any fireman stupid enough to camp under a tree in a predicted winter blizzard I don't want saving me.............must be another Arizona thing.......

Cowboy up and toughen up you Arizona dudes. Sheeeesh. A few inches of snow and everyone falls apart. This ain't badass country.........it's warm and tame and for the weak. You should be able to handle this with ease like the Wyoming folks do! It's the City folk that are complicating this run-o-the-mill, western US storm. I can't believe the interstate blockages and accidents and such for this small weather event! Everyone in Wyoming prepares for and drives an unplowed highway to work.............why 8 hours to travel 45-minutes here?

Dang, has somebody been drinkin' tonite.....LOL!!!

Only cuz gang hunting and the promotion of artificial successes has driven me to it........LOL. I remember when Mike Eastman started his "Mike Eastman's Outdoorsmen" magazine in 1987. He wanted to create a forum for the average electrician, plumber, etc... to tell his personal, I-did-it-myself story. He wanted the DIY hunter to be recognized and to be heard. He also ultimately wanted to make $$$ from it. The Eastman's Journal spawned the current trophy hunting magazine/DVD craze that includes MuleyCrazy, Trophy Hunter, Mossback etc..... Mike has completely deviated from his original goal....and is now a large part of the problem. We now have a full array of trophy hunting magazines/DVD's that fully and completely promote gang hunting and do-it-at-any-cost and not individualism and personal achievement and success. Ryan Hatch and Doyle Moss are the ring-leaders in this unbelievable movement toward the destruction of hunting (Oh wait....ain't we already there?). Why in the world would anyone admire that???

Disingenuous=What trophy hunting has become. Disagree with your desire to recognize guides, tho. A guide who is paid for size (which is all of 'em) WILL live and work for instant gratification and doesn't care about a state or region being a top game or trophy game producer in the long term. I think that being "short-sighted" is a box that must be checked on the application form for a guides license in this and every other western state.

hmmm, personal satisfaction is awesome. Comradery is too..... I hunt alone usually but lets face it, shareing the hunt is awesome as well. heck, they ever find that bin ladin dude? Maybe a single hit man could do it? lmao No ones holding you down are they? lol. stick around , IT'S A GAS!!! I'm going to bed now.........I think. Buddies, cousins, and brothers-in-law all have a place in a person's life. And that place is...........at a birthday party or a family reunion or maybe watching an NFL game on the big screen having pizza and beers. True, legitimate trophy hunting is about gaining the personal satisfaction that it was only you against the animal.........and that you overcame all of the challenges and difficulties and whacked a great animal all by your lonesome. That's what trophy hunting is!!! How in the world can anyone claim personal satisfaction or any kind of accomplishment with 15 people involved??? By definition, when a hunter brings in others...........he/she is admitting that they are not up to the task and cannot succeed alone. So......if you are one of these............spare me your field photos and magazine articles representing fraudulent, deceptive success and stop searching for my approval and respect and awe. You ain't gonna get it cuz you have to EARN that from me. Overcome the animal and the challenges YOURSELF............or stay home and enjoy your beer.

Thanks for this topic............have you been reading my mind (or maybe my thread)??? Like your sarcasm SbD....... Guys..........this topic is about gang hunting. Or rather...........anti-gang hunting. Personally, I would feel like a no-good loser coward chickensheet if I needed 8 guides, cousins and brothers-in-law to find a decent animal. Personal satisfaction seems to be a feeling that has been lost in modern day trophy hunting. The end doesn't justify the means! Dang, this forum has more than a few trouble makers. I'm not sure how much longer I can hang around here..............

I can't seem to find the multi-quote button. Doug, my disappointment is with the amount of human traffic and selfish impacts that I've seen in recent years on the Strip. It used to be wild and woolly country, but no more. I realize that this trip was just after a 10 day hunting season, but the use was very obvious. What used to be faint, overgrown 2-tracks now had heavy usage. Faint 2-tracks that I wouldn't have considered driving on 15 years ago had significant quad and full-size vehicle usage. I saw several new 2-tracks too..........very disappointing. New camping spots were prevalent, too. Could this overuse be from gang hunting...........with 8 or 9 hunters with 5 vehicles for every one tag holder on the Strip??? The BLM is now aggressively citing people for driving off road all over the west..........looooong overdue. I know a guy who just received a $175 ticket in Wyoming. He whined............I applauded! I would never considering cutting up a tree to put up a manmade treestand on public land. This comes with age and maturity. The wooden tree stand looked recent. Keep in mind that 13A had over-the-counter archery tags until 3 or 4 years ago. It was getting hit HARD by archers.........the reason for the now limited quota archery hunts. Note the trail cam post in the first water trough pic. It ain't a fence post. These things ought to be called "water tank cams", since few actually use them on game trails. Using them on game trails would actually require that...............people hiked more than 20 yards from the truck...........and.........knew enough about the game to find a likely game trail. The commercialization of big muleys by the outfitters, trophy hunting magazines, and DVD makers has ruined some precious areas in the west. Not to mention trophy hunting in general. The end doesn't justify the means! Do it ALONE with NO IMPACT...........or stay home.

They retail for $5k. These are the Fluorite Prominar ones, not the standard ones, which are less expensive. I think Outdoorsmans may be offering a discount tho.....check with them. I've done substantial business with them for many years. They are great people to deal with. I looked thru Floyd's bino in their parking lot first. The tripod and head were $380.

I tipped over this bull on October 5 on BLM land on a solo hunt in Colorado unit 10........a terrific hunt! Neat and desolate high desert, sagebrush country. I only saw one hunter, and had nice bugling bulls in my lap all day every day. It was a rare, once-in-a-lifetime chance for this to be entirely between only me and the animals. I'll never forget this one! 18 years of preference points, or........get out the checkbook and buy a unit-wide landowner tag. I arrived several days early, and capitalized on the dry summer by finding a small area between the only two tanks that held water within several sections of land. A few quakie patches, some serviceberry, some oak, and lots of TALL sage. I only glassed and listened from a distance, and didn't enter their turfs or let them know in any way that I was there. I looked at 15-20 different 6-point bulls. Several times I had numerous mature bulls in the same draw in a bugling frenzy right in front of me. BTW, a bugling frenzy like this attracts other nearby bulls.........just sit and wait for them to arrive....even with their harems. Some were dang hard to pass as they bugled and raised heck and herded their harems out in the open during the evening show. I found this bull several days before the hunt...........but he moved onto some private ground and disappeared for several days. I passed on others in hopes that he would return............patience is indeed a virtue. Never did use my cow call as there was no need to. Used the heck out of my Leica Geovid HD 15 x 56's on the Outdoorsmans medium tripod, not to spot them, but to accurately size up similarly sized bulls. This bull was a butt-kicker and dominated bulls much bigger than his small body. I watched him do it. I didn't pull a tooth for proper aging, but his were very worn. I imagine 10 or so years old. He didn't live in the open, sagebrush country where he died. His beautiful dark antlers indicate that he rubbed on trees with pitch.......not brush........meaning pines or PJ's. He prolly lived in the nearby Dinosaur National Monument, and moved into this area cuz his water dried up or he couldn't find enough cows when September rolled around. I passed his sidekick with the same dark rack one evening 2 days before.........a beautiful, dominant 340 bull with long daggers and a very impressive, muscular body. In fact, the bullet from my .338 RUM flew right past the 340 bull to whack this bull. Most of the other bulls lived in this brushy area and had racks that were almost bone white. Light colored racks are hard to judge. It's hard to find a really big 380+ bull in Colorado, even in the limited quota trophy units of 2, 201, or 10. Even in wet years, the genetics just aren't there for bulls of that size like there are in AZ, Utah or the Gila. A 350 bull is a dang good one in Colorado.

Actually, I better clarify a bit. I did get out my checkbook for this tag.....................Oouuucchhhh! I have 12 points for elk in Colorado..........which won't ever get me diddly in my lifetime. On another note...........I whacked this buck in the same unit in 2000 after a summer of scouting and wondering about the great bulls I was seeing in the unit.

The ground vibrations you noticed were due to the prison guards slamming the cell door HARD on your good buddy Kirt Darner. I'm sure they were afraid he'd get away with this one too.

For trophy hunters......this is a key issue as far as which hunt to choose if you've scouted a whopper. Most hunters don't reason this out properly, however. What's important on the hunt isn't how you feel......but what the buck feels. Two different things.........apples and oranges. Great weather, less hunters, bucks visible during daylight hours..............all are moot and are unimportant.....if you've done one thing. And that one thing is to scout and find your one specific buck during the summer/early fall months and found his living room that he won't leave for a while. If you wait til the December hunt to go after him, he will be gone from his home and traveling the countryside looking for hot does. He will have left the living room that you found him in during August. 5 miles....maybe 10....who knows. Unless there is a LARGE number of does in and near his living room..........he will likely have taken the highway to find some. Mature bucks begin to roam about mid-December. So, if your hoping to somehow cross paths with an unpatterned roaming toad............then December can work out. But if he's a buck that you scouted relentlessly all summer in his home...............then the October or November seasons are the ones to hunt for him.

Has anybody here tried the Kowa Highlander fixed or variable? They look just mean with the Fluoride lenses. How 'bout Docter Optics 32x or the 20-50x variable? Money aside, do these bigguns fill a void and are they useful for loooooooong range glassing of Coues and Muleys in semi-open country? How are the heat waves in higher temps? I'm wondering specifically about advantages over 15x tripod mounted binos. Sure don't mind buying a big butt tripod to hold these heavyweights. What is the input from people who have these or have heard from others about 'em??? Any opinions will be appreciated.

5B.....June 20. This one is the famed Anderson Mesa..........a good place to find a good goat..........not open yet.............unless you're a hiker. Check out the unreal green during this drought. Chavez Mtn from the north. Terrific 'flats-meets-the-cedar-hills' country. An excellent, bypassed place to find an ancient goat. I did. More cedars and plains looking into unit 4. Find an isolated tank away from roads=find an ooooooold pronghorn. Devil Ditch. Bring your Jeep.

World record quote, Darr as far as credible info.....thanks. I appreciate the help from all of you gentlemen. I'm still sortin' out my hunts for this fall...........all will break me but I REALLY want one of these. I'll let you know. C

Are you kidding me??? I've wanted this for several years and encouraged Jim to finally open up. Dang!!! There seems to be something in the air as I'm getting some goooood info from this forum lately. I'd post his pics but I don't have permission.................and I don't think that you'd believe them! I've gotta go to the Strip over the 4th, but can easily drive my Jeep south for Jim's shindig. Holleeeeee Coooowwwww...................hope I don't get a DUI on the way down. C

I hereby bid $56 for the Holliday wine........long as I can consume it in the parking lot. Sorry Amanda and Kevin and Allen, just couldn't resist. I'll post some pics tonite, just to make up (will you let me?). I may also post my opinion on wildlife contributions......measured in ALL ways.

Much as I would like it to be.......this ain't me. Woooooooow! Utah Pauns.....1993. Check out the sand and other undesirable, 'I-won't-waste-my-time' desert stuff. Oh wait........some of that stuff is ummmmmmmm.........just slightly attractive.........to certain creatures. Buddy of mine whacked this great 32" buck in an OTC unit for Wyoming residents during the 1990's. BIG thick muzzle, fat October neck, eyes small and far apart = mature buck. Check out this out-of-the-way desert country that most hunters were driving past. Looks like loser country, don't it? He found this buck looooong before the season. What a terrific, personally satisfying trophy!!! Anyone notice a pattern here??? 205 inches of whitetail, 202 inches of muley. Would you believe...........................AZ units 32 Coues and 42??? Not true...........both bucks are from Colorado in the 1990's. The eastern is from the CO eastern plains.....the muley from NW Colorado unit 21. Turns out that a dedicated hunter from Washington State hunted the October season in 21 when it was drawable with just a point or two. He spotted this whopper in a patch of Gambel's oak on a steep hillside.......but couldn't get-r-done. He suspected that old muley bucks are predictable (where'd he get that idea?) and applied the next year............but only received a PRECIOUS preference point. The next year, he drew again, and found this same buck in the same patch of oakbrush...............two years later. 36 inches outside. Do a web search under 'persistance' and 'big 'ol fat-necked muleys are creatures of habit'...............and you will see a pic of this Washington hunter who knows the program.